Happy first week of Spring! The weather is really starting to heat up as we head into the early season. The main difference between March and last month is that now most of the Yampa through town is fully accessible. We have had enough consistent warm weather in the last few weeks that the Yampa from top access of town to bottom access of town is completely open. In some areas the river might have a little bit of shelf ice on the banks, but other than that it’s completely cleared for fishing. In the morning there also could be slush, but once it warms up in the afternoon the conditions improve.
Overall, our report is that the fishing is good and our recent guided fishing trips have been successful ones where most everyone is catching fish. These fish haven’t been fished in four to five months because the ice was covering them up, so they’re pretty happy to eat.
If you decide to go on the Yampa through town, the fish are eating below the surface because it’s quite the change in temperature for them and they're hungry. We recommend using a stonefly pattern, such as your Pat’s rubber legs, eggs, worms, leeches. You can also go with your small streamers like a sparkle minnow or leech. We also recommend smaller nymphs such as midges (RS2’s, zebra, black/red), hare's ear, and pheasant tail.
April 1st Sarvis Creek and the tailwaters will be open and accessible by car. If you decide to go out there, stick with your smaller midge patterns, such as your blood midges, WD40’s, and pheasant tail. It’s early in the spring and we are seeing good hatches starting. Depending on the weather in the next few weeks, we could be seeing BWO’s.
As for ice fishing, the lakes are in between where you are still able to ice fish, but still a few weeks away from ice off. With rising temperatures, you’ll start to see the inlets with creeks which will break up the ice and the edges of the lakes will open up. That is when the fishing is really awesome. In my opinion, ice off lake fishing is the best time of the year because those fish have been under the ice for most of the winter and they’re hungry.
We're super stoked for another water season and can't wait to share all our adventures on our social media. Happy Spring and thanks for reading!
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